OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's soccer team will make its return to the NCCAA National Championships after winning the NCCAA Central Region for the first time since 2013 as the Evangels pulled away with a 6-3 victory over Southwestern Christian on a cold, overcast afternoon at Evangel Field on Friday.
Mid-America Christian (16-3-1) ended Southwestern Christian (9-9-2) run of three consecutive NCCAA Central Region Championship victories with a dominant performance, as the Evangels scored four goals in the first 30:20 of regulation before holding on for a three-goal win.
The Evangels will be returning to the NCCAA Division I National Championships for the second time in three seasons after making it as an at-large selection during the 2017 campaign. MACU managed to get its revenge on the Eagles, who topped MACU in that 2016 NCCAA Central Region title match 5-3 in penalty kicks as well as stunned the Evangels with a 2-1 double overtime victory in Bethany, Okla. on Oct. 15.
MACU went on the attack early and often in the match as the Evangels challenged SCU goalkeeper Gerard Espinalt. The Eagles keeper had to make a phenomenal save less than 10 minutes in when Rodrigo Albuquerque blistered a rocket shot from near midfield that the Eagles keeper was just barely able to push off to the left side from off the bounce in the ninth minute.
With 34:05 remaining in the half, the Evangels put in the go-ahead goal after Tiuri Schieving got a strong header off a goal kick on the right side and pushed it down to a streaking Pero Mikulic. The freshman forward slipped his shot in past the diving keeper toward the lower left post from the right side of the box, making it a 1-nil MACU advantage.
In the 19th minute, Mid-America Christian added to it as Allan Sorato broke down the middle of the field and touched a pass over to Albuquerque on the right side. The sophomore forward did not miss his second opportunity as his shot from 25 yards out froze the keeper as it hooked toward the lower right post to make it a 2-0 game.
The scoring spree continued for MACU with 19:12 left to go in the first half when a Rai Ramus corner kick from the right side found the head of Schieving as his well-placed header found the top right corner, stretching the Evangels lead to 3-nil.
Five minutes later, Ramus got in on the scoring action. With just under 15 minutes left in the half, Carlos Castrejon intercepted a pass just outside the SCU box and juked a few defenders before laying out a beautiful pass to Ramus streaking toward the right side of the goal. The senior forward slipped his shot past the keeper coming out at the point of attack, trickling through the middle to give the Evangels their largest lead of the match at 4-nil.
Southwestern Christian managed to break into the scoring column in the 39th minute when an SCU throw-in bounced off the head of Schieving, but landed at the feet of an open Ignacio Ulloa, who launched a shot from 20 yards out from the middle to just under the crossbar and out of the reach of MACU goalkeeper Austen Parker to set the score to 4-1 at the halftime break.
The Evangels immediately got the four-goal advantage back just two and a half minutes in to the second half when Stephen Nganga sent a short corner to Albuquerque, who launched a deep cross from the left side to Mikulic in the middle of the box as he sent a header to just inside the left post to make it 5-1 with 42:33 remaining.
In the 55th minute, the Eagles started to mount their comeback when Artur Gomes scored his first of two goals as an Oben Atak corner from the left side found the foot of Juan Anselmi near the right post, who dished back to the left for Gomes for the goal punched into the top right corner.
With 26:45 left in the half, the Eagles had a golden opportunity to add one more, but Parker made a pair of fantastic saves on a header off a free kick followed by a putback attempt off the rebound, keeping the score at 5-2.
However, SCU would get its third goal regardless moments later when MACU was called for a foul in the box, setting up a penalty kick goal for Gomes to make it a 5-3 game with 26:05 remaining.
Following the PK, the Evangels defense regrouped as SCU would not get another shot on-goal in the final 26 minutes of regulation.
With time winding down, Albuquerque notched his second goal of the match with 16 seconds left when he beat the keeper on the right side trying to grab the ball at the point of attack. Albuquerque dribbled over the diving keeper and slammed a shot off a retreating defender and into the right side of the net for the sixth goal of the match.
Mid-America Christian dominated the offensive possession, outshooting the Eagles by a 28-10 margin with a 13-7 edge in shots on-goal.
Albuquerque led the attack with his first five-point game of the season with a pair of goals and an assist off a team-high nine shots with five landing on-target. Mikulic notched his two goals off of six total shots and three on-goal shots. Ramus and Schieving also tallied three-point games with each finishing with a goal and an assist.
Parker picked up his 16th win of the season in-goal as he came away with four saves.
With the victory, Mid-America Christian will receive an automatic berth to the NCCAA National Championships, joining Judson (Ill.), Piedmont International (N.C.), Ottawa (Ariz.) and Ecclesia (Ark.) who have also received invitations after winning their respective regions.
The Evangels will compete in the NCCAA National Championships for just the fifth time since moving to the Division I level in 2008 and will be seeking their first win at the national tournament since 2009 after MACU defeated Mid-Continent University 3-2 in the first match of pool play.
The NCCAA National Championship field will be announced after the completion of regional play on Saturday, Nov. 23.
